PHLEBOTOMIZED — Immense Intense Suspense (review)

PHLEBOTOMIZED — Immense Intense Suspense album cover Album · 1994 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Immense Intense Suspense" is the debut full-length studio album by Dutch death/doom metal act Phlebotomized. The album was released through Cyber Music in September 1994. It follows the release of the 1993 "Preach Eternal Gospels" EP and there has been one significant lineup change since the release of the EP as lead vocalist Barry Schuyer has been replaced by Dennis Geestman. Phlebotomized are therefore still a septet including a keyboard player and a violinist in addition to two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, and a lead vocalist.

Stylistically they are in the more death metal oriented and brutal end of the death/doom metal scale. They often play faster parts too, and this is by no means your regular My Dying Bride/Paradise Lost clone, although the slow paced sections featuring violin point in the direction of the former. Phlebotomized are a pretty adventurous and creative act and it wouldn´t be wrong to call their music progressive in nature. The songs feature many shifts in pace and a lot of different sections. The atmosphere is gloomy and mournful all the way though. This is not a happy release. It´s dark, grim, and brutal, and it´s only the keyboards and the violin layered sections, which point in another direction and which provide the band´s music with an extra epic dimension. That Phlebotomized happen to write and play some really effectul, brutal, and heavy old school death metal too is just one part of their sound which works well.

The change on the lead vocalist spot doesn´t affect Phlebotomized´s sound much, as Geestman is just as convincing, powerful, and brutal a growling vocalist as Schuyer was. He even adds the occasional (and rare) clean vocal moment which is great for the variation of the album. The clean vocals are delivered in either a showgaze type vocal style or a goth rock ditto. No high pitched epic singing here, but more a subtle monotone/dreamy clean vocal performance, although closing track "Gone" hints at a slightly more regular melodic rock voice performance.

"Immense Intense Suspense" features a well sounding production job, which suits the material well. The keyboards are sometimes placed a little high in the mix and the clean vocals are placed pretty low, but other than that it´s a powerful, raw, and detailed sound production. Upon conclusion it´s one of the more unique sounding death/doom metal albums from the early- to mid-90s. Calling it progressive death/doom metal isn´t always true because of the brutal old school death metal sections and higher pace, but evaluated overall that´s probably still the best description of the content of "Immense Intense Suspense". A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Everything Hurts And I'm Dying Atmospheric Sludge Metal
NEGATIVE BLISS
Buy this album from MMA partners
L'impôt du sang Melodic Black Metal
CONIFÈRE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Pleroma Progressive Metal
ORGONE
Buy this album from MMA partners
n​ê​bam​Ω​ejn Atmospheric Black Metal
TRHÄ
Buy this album from MMA partners
∫um'ad​∂​ejja cavvaj Atmospheric Black Metal
TRHÄ
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Origin Of Infinity - Chronosphere (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO)
ORIGIN OF INFINITY
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Kingdom of Heaven - “Pleasures of Pain”
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
Bosh66· 1 day ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 18 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 18 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 18 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed